Resist Both Wind and Tide
by PorcupineGirl
Summary: The Weasleys have taken in a muggleborn in need who befriends Fred and George. She finds that you can't fight destiny, for better or for worse. Set during DH. Ending is AU.
1. Chapter 1

August 22, 1997

The door to the Burrow opened, and Fred and George Weasley stepped into the kitchen just as their mother came back into the room.

"Oh, boys, I'm so glad you could make it to dinner today," Mrs Weasley said, kissing each of them on the cheek. She seemed a little bit nervous, but the twins barely noticed - she'd been somewhat jumpy ever since Bill and Fleur's wedding (followed by the abrupt, though not unexpected, disappearance of her youngest son) three weeks earlier.

"We've been living on takeaways from a muggle Chinese restaurant off Diagon Alley for most of the week," Fred told her.

"The thought of your roast is the only thing that could pull us away from the store right now," George continued, "We're spending all our time restocking, what with - "

" - the Hogwarts Express leaving in barely a week," Fred finished. Both twins wanted to ask if there had been any news of Ron, Harry, and Hermione, but they knew better than to ask their mother, especially when she seemed especially flustered. They had already agreed it was best to wait until their father was home from work.

"Well, the roast will be done soon enough," Mrs Weasley kept glancing toward the sitting room as they spoke, "And your father should be home about the same time." She took a breath and seemed to steady herself. "Why don't you two come sit down for a bit? We've got a new houseguest you should meet."

The twins frowned at each other, and then at their mother, but she was already leaving the kitchen.

"A member of the Order?" Fred mumbled.

"We've met them all, haven't we? Who'd be staying here that we don't know?" George replied, and they followed their mother. When they arrived in the sitting room, they found a young witch sitting on the couch with Ginny, the two of them leafing through a photo album. Before their mother could open her mouth, Ginny jumped up, pulling the other girl up with her as the album tumbled to the floor. For the first time in the twins' memory, Ginny seemed almost as nervous as her mother.

"These are my brothers, Fred and George!" she told the witch, "Well, I mean, two of my brothers. I told you, the twins. Fred and George, this is Annalise Delacour. She's Fleur's cousin. She just graduated from Beauxbatons, and she's staying with us for a few months... or so, or maybe a year, we don't know for sure - anyhow, she's staying here for a while to learn more about British culture."

Annalise was a bit taller than Ginny, and looked nothing like Fleur. Where Fleur had nearly-white, wispy hair, Annalise's was dark brown and thick. Where Fleur had striking light blue eyes, Annalise's were dark green. Instead of Fleur's slightly-upturned nose, Annalise had a small, rounded button nose. The only possible resemblance was their pale cream skin, though on Annalise it was covered with dark freckles across her nose and cheeks.

"Eet ees a pleasure to meet ze two of you," Annalise smiled at them, holding out her hand in greeting. The twins each shook it and nodded their greetings, but both looked suspicious rather than happy to meet her. They both opened their mouths to speak, but were cut off by their mother.

"I'm sure you three have a lot to talk about, to get acquainted. Why don't you go out into the garden while Ginny and I finish dinner?" They opened their mouths again. "I'm sure Annalise can answer your questions, now I've got to get back to that roast or we won't be ready to eat when your father gets home."

Fred and George looked distinctly disgruntled as they led Annalise out into the garden. They stopped at a cluster of chairs, and George quickly cast Muffliato around them.

"Oh, we should use more protection zan zat," Annalise told him, and walked around the chairs muttering a few charms to keep their conversation from being heard. Fred and George looked at each other in surprise and confusion, but let her finish. They both had their wands raised when she returned.

"Now you look here, girly," George started as soon as Annalise sat down. "I don't know what you've been telling our mum, but you're not from Beauxbatons any more than Fred here is a Witch Weekly centerfold."

"You just wait 'til next week," Fred replied indignantly, "But he's right, we know you went to Hogwarts; you bought a skiving snackbox from us in our seventh year. You'd better start explaining yourself."

"Your mum knows I went to Hogwarts," Annalise dropped the French accent and held her hands out in a calming gesture, "My name is Anna. I was a Ravenclaw in Ron's year. I'm a muggleborn. Can I tell you the story from the beginning? It'll be easier that way."

The twins put away their wands. They seemed less suspicious of her already. "Nice to meet you, Anna," Fred shook her hand, followed by George. When they'd all been properly introduced, she began to tell the story for what felt like the hundredth time in a few days.


	2. Chapter 2

"Like I said, I'm a muggleborn. My family lives in London, not that far from Diagon Alley, though we didn't know that for a long time, of course. I'm a twin, too, actually - but we're fraternal, and my brother, I guess, didn't get the wizard genes. I'm the only one. My two best friends in Ravenclaw, Belinda Adams and Audrey Sinclair live in London, too. Belinda is a muggleborn too, and Audrey's mum works for the Ministry.

"I know that a lot of people have no idea what happened on the first of August, and I'll admit I don't know most of the details. Mrs Sinclair probably doesn't either, but she knew that Scrimgeour was killed. Officially, of course, she shouldn't know that, even though she works right down the hall from him, but she says you'd have to be stupid not to. She reckons most people who work there know, and are in denial, or just plain don't want to be next. She's had Belinda and me over many times before, and she knew we were both muggleborns, so when she came home from work that day she had Audrey warn us. She was so scared of being caught that she wouldn't dare use owls; she had Audrey walk over to each of our houses and talk to us in private, to warn us that You-Know-Who had taken over at the Ministry, and that we were probably in mortal danger," Anna's eyes lost focus for a second, "I may well owe my life to Mrs Sinclair. I definitely owe her my freedom right now. She and Audrey moved to the US just a week ago, to care for a sick uncle they said. I haven't heard from them yet."

Though the twins had still been regarding her with some level of suspicion, they each put a hand on her shoulder. She gave them a small smile and continued.

"Anyhow, I knew that after Dumbledore's death a lot of muggleborns had started leaving the country. Belinda immediately started helping her family plan to escape to Germany, where her aunt lives. But I didn't want to run. I knew that there were people who had already started fighting for my freedom, for my right to stay in the wizarding world, and I didn't want to just leave without helping them somehow.

"I should go back a bit. I know that in my fifth year, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and your brother Ron started a group called the DA to prepare to fight Voldemort. At the time, though, I didn't know about it. I didn't hang around with Cho Chang or Michael Corner or any of their group in Ravenclaw - honestly," she said with a wry grin, "I'm not that big on Quidditch, which to them means I'm barely worth knowing. Belinda and Audrey and I were in the choir, and we were friends with a few Hufflepuffs who were also in it. Other than that, we were pretty quiet - in fact, I was _painfully_ shy for most of my time at Hogwarts. So we weren't invited to be in the DA. Not that I blame them," she added hastily, "I know they really needed to keep it to people they trusted, and none of them knew any of us. So I didn't even know the DA existed until it sort of blew up with Dumbledore's disappearance later in the year.

"Then last year I was partners with Michael on a Muggle Studies project. I'd decided toward the end of fifth year that I needed to get over the shy thing and make new friends, so we started hanging out in addition to just work. I asked him about the DA stuff, and he told me all about it. I really wished I could have been a part of it. And now, just a couple of weeks ago, when I had the choice of going into hiding, I couldn't help but think about all those students - people I knew, people I had classes with, people I'd seen in the halls - you two, who I'd bought things from - doing their best to prepare to face You-Know-Who when he didn't even pose a threat to some of them. If purebloods, who could probably sit back and ignore the whole thing if they wanted to, were willing to fight, I just couldn't run off and wait for the problem to be solved.

"Now, don't get me wrong. I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for a reason," she smiled at the twins, "I am the biggest wimp possible, and it terrifies me to think of actually fighting a duel with Death Eaters. But even if I never go into battle, I'm sure I must be useful somehow. I must have something to contribute.

"Come on, bravery doesn't always mean being on the front lines," Fred said.

"Yes, look at us," George agreed, "Never fought a single duel, but if I do say so myself it takes some strong gonads to sell pranking supplies on Diagon Alley these days."

"Some people's jobs are to fight, ours is to keep up morale," Fred shrugged, "You're right, you probably can serve a purpose. So where did your family move to? Now that the Ministry's got a list of muggleborns, I'm assuming they're not staying in London in case the Ministry comes looking for you."

"Oh, I'm not done storytelling," Anna went on, "As I said, I wished I'd been in the DA and wanted to join the fight somehow. But I'm not any stupider than Mrs Sinclair - I knew that if You-Know-Who was really in power, he'd be hunting down the muggleborns systematically, not just taking the ones he happens to run across. Like you pointed out, my family would still be in danger, as would anyone who helped me if I stayed.

"My family was planning to take a trip to Scotland in the second week of August anyhow. So I talked them into staying a night at a resort town just a mile or so away from Hogsmeade. I doubted muggles would be welcome in Hogsmeade these days, even if they already knew of wizards, so I told them that Belinda was leaving for Germany after stopping in Hogsmeade for supplies, and I needed to go into the town to meet her and say our goodbyes. I went into the town alone, and from there I went into Hogwarts.

The twins looked impressed. "The tunnel in from Zonko's, right?" George asked, "How'd you know about that? How'd you get into it?"

"It's open in the summer?" Fred added.

"Yes, the tunnel from Zonko's, a seventh year in the choir showed me my fourth year, I broke into Zonko's through the back door, and yes, apparently it is. I guess they don't expect many students to want to go back to school so badly they'd need to bother with more than the usual security measures. And since they're still sort of in-between headmasters, I think some things have been overlooked in the confusion. It wasn't very hard, with Zonko's being abandoned now. I did a disillusionment charm on myself once I got to the castle to avoid attracting attention.

"You can do a disillusionment charm?" Fred asked.

"Charms is far and away my best subject. I'm horribly average at potions, not bad at transfiguration, and, well, divination is a whole other story - but I took extra Charms practice with Professor Flitwick last year and sat my NEWT a year early. Anyhow, I knew where the school records were kept. At the start of my fifth year, I did a detention with Professor Flitwick, updating the records. I _also_ happened to have seen how to destroy a record. Most of the detention we spent filling in new records for the first years. But of course, every year there are a few eleven-year-olds whose parents don't send them to Hogwarts. But a blank record is made for them on their birthday, so they have until school starts to decide. If they don't come, the record is destroyed. Of course, you need a password to destroy a record, but Professor Flitwick didn't really think anything of saying it in front of me - I was one of his best students, never in any kind of trouble, why would I ever destroy anyone's records?"

"Didn't you just say you were in detention? And you bought a snackbox from us" George pointed out.

"Hardly sounds like a perfect angel to me," Fred agreed.

Anna rolled her eyes. "I was given detention by _Umbridge_," she said, "that hardly counts. I think I spoke out of turn when I was asking someone to hand me a quill I'd dropped or something. And the snackbox was a birthday gift for a friend, and was mostly used to get out of her class! The only reason I got out of doing the detention with _her_ was that she had Harry Potter in detention that week, and she let me serve it with Professor Flitwick so she could have him alone. Poor thing, I hope she wasn't too awful to him," she shivered at the thought of detention with Umbridge herself.

"Honestly, Professor Flitwick probably thought it counted as points _for_ me that I'd gotten on her bad side. So I knew where the records were, the charm to destroy them, and the faculty password."

George cut in again. "So what's the password, then?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Like I'm going to tell you two, of all people."

Fred beamed, "Our reputation precedes us, I see."

"I have done business with you, you know," she said with a grin. "But the point is, I went in and destroyed my file. And Belinda's. I figured they'd probably just go right through the files and make a list of the muggleborns, and if we weren't there we wouldn't make the list. The only professor who would give us up was Snape, and I really didn't think either of us had made much of an impression on him. If you said my name he might recognize it, but he'd never notice I was missing from a list of all the students in Hogwarts. Of course, you can reinstate a record, since the information itself is stored in the castle somehow, but you have to know whose record it is you're looking for. Professor Flitwick would notice we were gone, but I knew he'd never tell. And we just... didn't stand out enough for anyone who _would_ tell to think of us.

Her face grew dark. "I wish I could have helped more muggleborns. But I knew that if Snape, or whoever was helping him, noticed any of the names were missing, they'd start a more thorough search for deleted records, and we'd all be found out. I couldn't delete anyone who was a prefect, anyone on a Quidditch team, anyone who stood out from the crowd in any way. I managed to find one other Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff from choir whose records I thought it was safe to destroy, but by then I'd been in the records room for nearly ten minutes and I was sure Filch would be there any moment. So all that work and risk, and I only helped myself, my best friend, and two other people."

"That's certainly bravery," Fred said quietly. She looked him straight in the eye.

"It was self-preservation. Plain and simple. I had the opportunity and the knowledge necessary, and I did what I needed to do to protect myself and my family."

"And three other people," George pointed out, "I think you need to go back to the dictionary and re-read the self-preservation bit."

Anna didn't respond. She'd been told the same thing several times over the past few days, but she still felt like a coward for fleeing without saving dozens, even hundreds more students. She plunged back into the story.

"As soon as I got back to where my parents were staying, I sent owls to the other students letting them know what I'd done and that they should be able to safely blend back into muggle society without wizards looking for them. I don't know what happened to them - it was risky enough to send them the owls, I asked that they not respond. After we got back to London, I got in contact with Michael Corner. He was my best connection to the DA, and thus to whatever resistance movement I might have any hope of joining. He knew that Ginny's family was somehow involved, and had been close to Dumbledore, so he put me in touch with her.

"I got here three days ago, and we started trying to figure out how I could be involved. At first we thought perhaps I should just stay with my family and live as a muggle, and your parents would contact me when I could help. But your family is going to be under a lot of scrutiny as blood traitors - contact with a muggle family could be damning. Then Bill and Fleur came over, and I knew I had my cover story. You see, my grandmother moved here from France when my mother was six or seven years old. I grew up speaking both French and English, and I knew I could pass as a Delacour since the ministry doesn't have records on foreign wizards. The only risk is if I'm seen by other recent or current Hogwarts students who might recognize me, like you two did. So I can't go galavanting around Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, but if I stick close to home and to the story, it should be fine. I've even got faked French papers - I duplicated Fleur's and altered them to describe Annalise - which, by the way, we thought sounded more French than Anna. Ministry officials could come right to the doorstep, and they won't know your parents are harboring a muggleborn."


	3. Chapter 3

It was clear that Anna was finished talking. Fred and George took a minute to digest it.

"It's a good story," George allowed, "But how can we be sure it's true? How do we know you're not some Death Eater's daughter out to spy on us, or under the imperius curse?"

Anna actually started laughing. "You really think your parents didn't think of that? Do you honestly think that I haven't been subjected to every lie-detection method known to wizardkind in the past few days? On top of them, Kingsley and Tonks have both been through here to talk to me, and I've been subjected to veritaserum, legillimency, charms to detect the imperius curse, you name it, things I'd never even heard of."

"Well, you _are_ a Ravenclaw," Fred pointed out, clearly starting to relax, "Maybe you've just managed to outwit us all."

"Oh, I'm sure I could outwit a couple of Gryffindor dropouts," she taunted him, grinning, "But two top-notch aurors? Plus a Ministry official, and, well, your mother can be more formidable than any of them when she wants to be. You must think pretty highly of me."

"So we're supposed to stick to your cover story even at home?" George asked. "Is mum afraid the ghoul's going to tell on you? I hear the poor bloke's got spattergoit, you know, I don't think you need to worry about him ratting on anyone."

"Actually," Anna leaned in toward the twins, "Your father's worried the Ministry might have planted a bug of some kind in the house. Some way of listening in. One of his coworkers came to deliver some files yesterday afternoon, and he may have dropped off more than papers. Kingsley's coming over after dinner to do a sweep of the house, but we've all got to be careful what we say til then. We could just use a lot of charms to block it, but it'd look suspicious if it sounded like no one was talking in the house at all. So until Kingsley gives the okay, we've got to come out here to talk about anything important."

Fred nodded and stood up. "Well, we'd better get back inside before the roast gets burnt. Or cold. Or whatever it might do that mum could blame on us, which is almost anything. Explode. Implode. Just plode."

"So just to make sure we've got our stories straight," said George, "for the evening we are to ignore your ridiculous accent, because you are are Annalise Delacour, cousin of Fleur Delacour, come to learn all about jolly old England."

"That's right," Anna said, "Fleur didn't seem to think I was quite worthy of being her cousin, honestly. She needn't worry, though, I think it's pretty obvious I'm not related on the veela side anyway."

Fred caught her eye as George turned to head back into the house. "Don't sell yourself short, now."

And Anna realized as they set off toward the house that even with George's hair covering his missing ear, she didn't have any trouble telling the twins apart.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** This chapter isn't the greatest. It should have just been the second half of Chapter 3, but when I finished that I went and wrote two later chapters instead, and then had to come back and do this one. I just couldn't jump from where I left in 3 to where I picked up in 5 - I thought about putting another chapter in between as well, but it would just be filler. I promise 5 is better! Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad people are enjoying this!

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There was plenty to talk about at dinner even without treading on any sensitive subjects, but the conversation was more terse and formal than usual. Fred and George dominated, since there was no reason for them not to talk about how business was booming and describe some of the new products they'd recently introduced.

Almost as soon as the remains of the roast had been cleared from the table, a knock came at the door. Mr Weasley went outside to speak to Kingsley before letting him in. Everyone in the house watched with fascination as he took out strange instruments and waved them all over the house. Now and then he'd use his wand, and Fred assumed he was using nonverbal spells. After about a quarter of an hour, he turned to them and smiled.

"There was something, a slight hex, but it was incredibly weak. It probably would have faded on its own in another day, but better safe than sorry."

"Thank you so much, Kingsley. We really should put a few more defensive charms on the house to prevent this kind of scare in the future. But not right now, why don't you join us for some tea and cake?" Mrs Weasley rambled in obvious relief.

"I'd love to, Molly. Fred, George, good to see you again," he shook the twins' hands, "How's the shop?"

The small talk continued as Ginny helped her mother pass out cups of tea and slices of lemon cake. The atmosphere was decidedly more relaxed than at dinner, but nobody seemed to want to discuss anything serious. George finally asked the question that had been on both of their minds all evening.

"Any news from Ron? Or even _about_ the three of them? Any idea at all?"

His father and Kingsley shook their heads sadly. Mrs Weasley frowned and began taking the dessert dishes back into the kitchen.

"As far as we know, they're still at Grimmauld Place," Arthur said, "Where they're going next, what they're planning, what they're doing, no idea. We can only assume that if they were caught or... in serious trouble, we'd have heard something. Someone would be bragging about it."

The twins nodded. Not what they'd wanted to hear, but what they'd expected.

"There was some good news today, though," Kingsley said, clearly hoping to dilute the pall that had just fallen over the room. "Congratulations, Anna, it looks like your hard work paid off."

"You've been here three days and you've already accomplished something?" Fred asked incredulously, "Damn Ravenclaw overachievers."

Ginny kicked his foot. "Didn't you read the Prophet today, doofus? They published a list of muggleborns who're wanted for questioning. None of the people whose records she destroyed were on it. It worked!"

"I feel like I can breathe so much easier now," Anna said, "Not that I'm going to go parading around trying to get caught, but at least no one's going to knock on the door and compare me to an old photo or something."

Once Kingsley left, Anna, Ginny, and the twins went up to Ginny's room to hang out for a bit before the boys had to head home.

"I hope they're right," Ginny said as George closed the door, "About us hearing if Harry and Ron and Hermione were in trouble. What if they get captured and You-Know-Who just wants to wait for the right time to make it public? What if we get news but it's a lie?"

Fred hugged her. "I'd say don't worry, but I'd be a hypocrite if I did. But we've gotten all the news we're going to get for today. We can start over worrying and waiting for news tomorrow."

"So Anna," George changed the subject, "Your family's staying in London then? Have you heard from them?"

"Not yet," she replied, "They're staying for now, but my mother is seriously considering going back to France for a bit just in case. My grandmother moved back there after I got my Hogwarts letter - it turned out she was a squib and we'd never known it! Her mother was a witch! Squibs were really looked down upon then, so she'd tried to mostly live as a muggle, and gave up the wizarding world entirely when she moved to England. But when she saw my letter, it all came rushing back, and she wanted to move back and reconnect with some childhood friends. She still lives as a muggle, but she sees her wizarding friends regularly. Andrew and I have even met some Beauxbatons students while visiting her."

The twins looked identically confused. "So you're _not_ a muggleborn?" Fred asked.

"Do you really think the granddaughter of a squib, with only one out of eight great-grandparents a witch, whose own twin brother is 100 muggle, would count as anything else to the Death Eaters? There are probably muggles walking around with more wizarding blood that they don't even know about than I've got," She shook her head, "And I'm not even sure I could prove it anyhow, I've really only got my gran's word on it, and the fact that she knows some French wizards. I don't know how else she'd know them. But I haven't got any documentation."

George flopped down on Ginny's bed. "I'm almost glad there was no news on Ron and them today. I'm doing good just to keep your story straight, girly. I don't need more information to crowd my poor little brain."

The conversation turned to Ginny's impending return to Hogwarts. They made predictions about who would be the next headmaster, whether Filch would run away to join Voldemort too (Ginny was disappointed that the consensus was that this was wishful thinking considering he's a squib), and who the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be. After an hour, Anna's head was starting to nod, and the party was broken up.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** To make up for the last two short (and not terribly exciting) chapters, here is my longest one yet! I hope you enjoy it - this was one of the first scenes I planned out in my mind when I was forming the idea for this story. By the way, this story is now the longest piece of fiction I've ever written!

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October 30, 1997

Mrs Weasley was in the best mood she'd been in since she'd had to leave Ginny on the Hogwarts Express.

"It is just _so_ thoughtful of Fred and George to host a birthday party for me!" she exclaimed to her husband and Anna as she pulled her traveling cloak out of the closet, "Those two are growing up to be such gentlemen! I think all the responsibility of running the store has been very good for them." She turned to Anna as she pulled the cloak on, "When they were children, they couldn't remember my birthday when Arthur reminded them a week before. And now they're throwing me a party all on their own, in their own flat! I do hope they swept."

Anna grinned as she threw on her dark blue cloak. "Mrs Weasley, maybe you should let me enter the apartment first. I can perform a few cleanup spells, and then you can come in and pretend the twins remembered to do it themselves."

They laughed as Mr Weasley came down the stairs and retrieved his own cloak. The three of them headed outside, and disapparated at the end of the walk, reappearing on Diagon Alley.

Anna was careful to keep the hood of her cloak drawn, but she couldn't help but look around. She hadn't been here since summer, and it was not looking any better than it had been then. Then she saw them - homeless muggleborns, reduced to begging on the street. All at once it hit her, how close she was to being there, and she had to stifle a sob. Mr Weasley saw where she was looking, and pulled her toward their destination across the street. She let him, and made herself smile as she went. The past two months had been stressful and sometimes painful, but she had a good place to live and was doing important work. The least she could do to repay the Weasleys for their kindness was to help them celebrate Mrs Weasley's birthday in happiness rather than sorrow.

As they approached the door to the store, Anna began to feel lighter. She hadn't seen the twins in nearly two weeks; business that had fallen off with the start of school was ramping back up as Halloween approached. She hadn't seen anyone near her own age, come to think of it, but it was really their company in particular she'd been missing. A little voice inside her spoke up... _Come on, it's really Fred you miss, be honest._ But she argued it away easily. _So Fred has a nicer smile. I care about them both as individuals, and I really miss being around them as a pair. This party will be a great chance to have some fun with them_.

And it was true - spending time with the twins was a bit like having her brother back, who she missed terribly. He wasn't as extreme as they were, but he had a similar sense of humor and outlook on life. She'd never made good friends so quickly before, and looked forward to every evening they came over to eat dinner and then hang out with her in the garden or Ginny's room. She'd even learned the basics of Quidditch to play two-on-one with them, though she knew that whichever twin was the "one" side had the advantage. She couldn't deny that her feelings toward George were a bit more brotherly than those toward Fred... George reminded her of Andrew the most, for one thing, and Fred's sometimes over-the-top personality fascinated her.

They went through the store to a door in the back, and up a staircase to the apartment. George threw open the door as they approached and herded them in enthusiastically. Anna saw that they were the last to arrive - most of the Order was there already, munching on appetizers and drinking butterbeer. She'd never been to their place before - the flat was not incredibly spacious, but the living room was large enough that the dozen or so people could mingle without feeling too cramped. It was festively decorated for the occasion, of course, but without the streamers and sparkling fireworks hovering just below the ceiling she could see that it would have the definite air of a bachelor pad - only the most basic of furniture, little attention given to decoration, and boxes (mostly full of store inventory) stashed in every corner. She pulled a small wrapped gift from under her cloak and set in the growing pile on a table. Fred appeared by her side, a bottle in his hand.

"I'll trade you for your cloak," he said, holding out the drink. She smiled and began to remove the cloak, but he pushed the bottle into her hand with a "No no no, allow me." She held still as he reached around and removed the cloak from her shoulders, carefully folding it over one arm. She thanked him, and he looked like he was about to say something - but then he looked down at the cloak over his arm and seemed to remember what he was in the middle of doing.

"I, ah - I'll just put this in the bedroom then. I'll catch up with you later." She watched him go, then went to join a conversation with Tonks and Bill.

Two hours later, they'd eaten dinner and cake and sung Happy Birthday. Mrs Weasley had opened her gifts, insisting the entire time that having her friends close was the best gift possible (until she came to Arthur's tickets to see Celestina Warbuck in concert, which she allowed might actually be the best gift possible). They were settling back into the living room for a last round of drinks and conversation before things would start to wind down. Anna walked over to the couch, where there was an empty spot in the middle, with Fred and George on either side. She raised an eyebrow.

"Great, this is the only seat open? I'll admit it, the thought of sitting down right between the two of you scares me."

George sighed and removed a whoopie cushion from under the center couch cushion. "You happy now?" he asked, and turned to Lupin, "I swear, she's worse than Hermione, won't let us have a lick of fun when she's around."

"You poor, poor thing, whatever shall you do?" Lupin consoled him. The two of them fell into conversation as Anna sat down on what she hoped was a safe bit of sofa. She leaned back and turned to Fred.

"Not a bad place you guys have got here," she said, "Super comfy sofa. And I love what you've done with the box of exploding wands over by the door."

"We believe in putting our personal touch on the decorating," Fred told her very seriously, "The interior designer we hired wanted to put the boxes in the closet of all places, so of course we fired her immediately." His eyes lingered on hers just a bit longer than absolutely necessary after he finished speaking.

Fred put his drink down on a nearby table and leaned toward her. "Actually, you haven't seen the best part of this place. The roofdeck has a great view of the entire Alley. C'mon." He got up and tugged on her arm to follow him. They made their way through the kitchen to a back door, which led to more stairs.

---

They emerged onto the roof, and Fred led the way across to a railing. Anna leaned over the railing and saw Diagon Alley spread out beneath her. Even from only two stories up, she could see all the way to from the Leaky Cauldron to Gringott's. She remembered her first visit there, traced mentally the path she and her mother had taken from the entrance to the bank, where they exchanged their muggle money, and then back to the first store she'd gone into, Madame Malkin's.

"So how are things going back home?" Fred asked, pulling Anna out of her memories. She'd nearly forgotten where she was, or who she was alone with. She suddenly realized that she was actually nervous - something she hadn't expected, as she was normally so at ease around the twins.

"Are they keeping you busy? Starting to regret not making a run for it?" he grinned at her.

"It's actually been really interesting work. You know how before, I was just doing the filing, people's reports and notes and things? Now that I sort of know the lay of the land I've been digging through the files, sitting down with your parents to analyze the reports and find connections and patterns that aren't obvious til you put a lot of them together. It's actually a lot of fun, like solving a big puzzle that you're not even sure has a solution. You guys should really come by and help once the holiday's over."

Fred laughed. "Not exactly our cup of tea. Well, maybe George would like it more than I would. I couldn't concentrate long enough to put all those little pieces together. I'd read one report, get some mad idea for some conspiracy or other, then lose interest by the time I finished reading the next one and be onto a new theory. Actually, it does sound like a lot of fun, but the rest of you would probably be ready to kill me by the time I read the third report."

"Fine then. You should just come over to keep us all entertained," Her wide smile faded a little. "I have to admit, it's nice to get out. I've barely left the house. I'm not sure I need to be quite as paranoid as I have been, but I certainly don't want to get your parents in trouble. I've been to Bill and Fleur's a couple of times for dinner, but that's all. But your mother mentioned yesterday that she hasn't noticed many people our age at the local market, so I might get to go out and do some of the shopping."

"I guess the life of a fugitive isn't as thrilling and romantic as the advertisements promised, eh? You should get your money back." Now that they were away from the others, there was even less reason to look away, and their eyes stayed locked for what felt like several minutes but was probably really only a few seconds. They had been standing side-by-side, leaning over the rail; now Fred turned to face her and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Lemon drop?"

Anna pulled away from the railing and stared at the candy in his hand. She looked back up at him with a shrewd expression. "I don't take candy from strangers."

"What? I'm not - "

"Oh sorry, let me rephrase that. I don't take candy from strange people who run joke shops. Better?"

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I can't _believe_ that you would _possibly_ think -"

She had picked the lemon drop up out of his hand and was examining it. "Come on, what does it do? This isn't from the skiving snackbox. Give me a sneezing fit, maybe? Make my hair grow out of control?" She sounded much more amused than offended, despite her best efforts.

He stepped toward her a little, touching her hand that held the candy. "Well, you know, it's nothing really," he began, evasively, "I mean, yes, it _does_ contain a mild - _very_ mild, very very mild... er... aphrodisiac." Although a slight smile curled his lips, she could see that he wasn't quite as sure of himself as he wanted her to think, wasn't _entirely_ sure how she'd react to this. She pressed the drop back into his hand and moved a little closer, her eyes never leaving his. When she spoke, her voice was softer than she was expecting.

"You can keep that."

And then they were kissing. She was surprised at the raw hunger she felt in his kiss. She'd briefly dated two boys at Hogwarts, for only a month or two each. Their snogging sessions, while quite enjoyable, were tentative and fumbling. Pairs of children who had a good idea where they wanted to go but weren't quite sure how to get there. This was different - he was an adult who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. His confidence was contagious.

After a few minutes, she pulled away, though he was holding her so tightly that she couldn't move far. "If I _had_ eaten it," she asked him, "You wouldn't really have taken advantage of a girl under the influence of something she didn't know she'd taken, would you?"

Fred scoffed. "Please. If you'd actually been stupid enough to eat a piece of candy from me without being slightest bit suspicious? I'd have lost all interest."

She couldn't help but laugh. "So it was just a pickup line all along."

"A good one, apparently. I'll have to remember that. I'm glad you didn't fall for it, I'd have had to get someone less picky up here for you or you'd've been a very unhappy girl."

"I thought the aphrodisiac was 'very, _very_ mild'?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "Well, you know, mild to medium... ish. Well, that's what we _mean_ them to be. I think we might still need to tone them down a little. You're sure you don't want to help test them?"

"I'll stick with no."

"I guess I might as well eat it then..." He went to unwrap it, but she took it out of his hand and stuck it back in his pocket.

"How did your mother put up with you all those years? You're like a perpetual two-year-old. But you've moved up from throwing toys off the high chair to see where they go, to testing women's patience to see how much it takes to make them stop wanting to snog you," She laughed a little, incredulously. "That's not an experiment most men run on purpose, you know."

He actually looked the slightest bit worried. "Have I hit the limit yet?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What happens if I say no?"

"I swear, I'm as close to the line as I'd like to get tonight. I'd much, much rather be kissing you than tormenting you."

"Excellent."

But no sooner had Fred leaned down and begun to kiss her neck than they heard a voice coming from the door that led back down to the flat.

"I left something up on the roof, I'll be right back down," George called to someone.

Anna was expecting to do the stereotypical "spring apart, put a couple feet between you, strike up a conversation and act nonchalant" act. They pulled apart, but she was pleasantly surprised when Fred kept one arm around her waist and even kissed her temple as his brother came out onto the roof.

George was all business. "Mum believes the two of you to be downstairs getting more rainbow-flamed candles. I don't know what's been keeping you, but my best guess was that you had to open a new box of them and had trouble finding it in the storeroom," He waved his wand in front of him and a book appeared in his hand. "Ah! I thought I left this up here. I'll see you two back at the party." And he disappeared back through the door.

"That was efficient," Anna said, a slightly puzzled look on her face, "Was that planned?"

"If it were planned, he wouldn't've had to tell me my own cover story, would he?" Fred smiled at her and led her to a corner of the roof where a fire escape ladder led down to the ground.

"Ladies first," He kissed her hand and helped her onto the ladder.

"Now I know you're a true gentleman," she said as she climbed down, "You passed up the chance to look up my robes."

He looked down at her, horrified. "Stupid, stupid, stupid Fred!" he said, banging his head on a ladder rung.

When they got into the store, he told her that he thought they really might have to dig into the storeroom to find more rainbow-flamed candles, so they moved quickly to avoid delaying their return even further. Once they'd found them, she began to pull the candles out of the box, but he put out a hand to stop her.

"In a second," he said, and they spent a last minute kissing.

"I really wish we could spend more time together," Anna said as they each pulled two candles out of the box.

"Hopefully after Halloween George and I will be spending more time at the Burrow again," he said, and then hesitated. He took her hand. "I want you to know, I do wish this could be... more official."

Anna smiled. "I know it can't. You'd be in more danger for dating a muggleborn, I'd be in more danger if word got out and it brought my papers under scrutiny for any reason, it'd be unfair to your parents to complicate the situation even more, not to mention it could make them uncomfortable - there are a lot of reasons, aren't there?" Her smile was gone.

"Cheer up," Fred said as they headed to the stairs, "Things could be worse. You could actually be French."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Sorry it's been a while. I've got bits of various chapters done, it just takes a while to finish any particular one. Thanks so much for all the reviews so far, and thank you to my sister, gerbilcat, for pre-reading and giving feedback! Also, I must give a plug to my new story, _A Muggleborn's Story_ - it's quite different from this one, but hopefully just as entertaining! It's written in the style of a magazine article chronicling the life and times of Dennis Creevey, the new Hogwarts Muggle Studies professor. Please check it out!

November 15, 1997

Anna curled up in the armchair, staring down at the memo as though reading its single sentence a twenty-seventh time would reveal its secrets. It had been sent by Thicknesse to all department heads, and Mr Weasley had brought home a copy for the records.

_Effective immediately:_

_Departments wishing to make use of the Level 4 conference rooms must seek prior written approval from the Minister of Magic._

Simple enough, in times of peace. Now, though, even tiny tidbits of information could point the Order toward a breakthrough. Level 4 housed the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures - had they bred something new and dangerous, a living weapon that they wanted to keep secret? Or had they, perhaps, imported a dangerous creature such as a sphinx? Had whatever it was gotten out of control? Or maybe some of the offices on the level were serving a different purpose now - a new department, or even a small committee, working on something top-secret. It was easy to confuse herself with the possibilities, so she'd been keeping a list as she thought of them. Anything that came to mind went down, no matter how crazy it sounded. She had nearly scratched out "Location of surprise birthday party for You-Know-Who" but then thought better of it; spending time with the twins had reminded her that every serious task needed a bit of levity. When she'd then discovered that Voldemort's birthday was, in fact, coming up in a month and a half, she wanted to cry.

She also had in front of her a report filed by Kingsley detailing a conversation he'd overheard between two Death Eaters, a clipping from the _Daily Prophet_, and another report, this time filed by Bill and complete with two surreptitiously-taken photographs, describing an exchange of goods that he'd seen from a distance but hadn't been able to hear. She'd gone through the past two weeks' worth of papers and these three seemed most likely to be connected to the closing of the Level 4 conference rooms, but even when she'd used them to narrow down her list, several possibilities remained. She could feel a slight headache coming on; she closed her eyes and decided that perhaps the Minister had just had the floors polished and didn't want them to get scuffed.

---

Fred and George apparated into the garden and headed inside through the kitchen. They headed straight over to their mother, tending a large pot of stew and a loaf of bread dough that was giving itself its final punching-down.

"That's a big pot of stew, mum," George said as they hugged her in turn, "but do you really think one loaf of bread will be enough to feed rest of you?"

"You'd better _not_ eat all this!" she replied, threatening him with a spoon, "Bill and Fleur are coming over tonight, too. This stew has to feed seven."

"Well, sadly, that means _these_," Fred waved his wand and two six-packs of butterbeer appeared on the counter, "won't divide evenly among us."

"They wouldn't divide evenly among five either, you great git," George told him in disgust, "who've you been taking maths lessons from, the garden gnomes?"

"You and your fancy book-learnings, what are you, a Ravenclaw? Shall I knit you a blue and bronze tutu for Christmas?" Fred did a ballerina twirl for his brother.

Molly rolled her eyes at the two of them. "Thank you for bringing the drinks, boys, and Fred, you can't knit a tutu."

"Maybe _you_ can't!"

"I sensed a disturbance in the force... Someone in here has been disparaging Ravenclaws," Fred turned to see Anna in the door that led to the living room, stretching. As soon as he saw her back arch with the stretch, he lost any idea he may have had as to what she'd been saying.

"A disturbance in what?" George asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Sorry, it's a muggle movie reference," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. When the twins still looked confused (though she didn't know that in Fred's case, at least, this was because he had no idea what the conversation was about to begin with) she added, "A movie is... Never mind. Suffice it to say that my brother is quite the trainspotter and occasionally I get sucked into his vortex of nerdiness."

George crossed the kitchen and hugged Anna hello. Fred followed, though his hug included a kiss on the top of the head when his mother wasn't looking, and they headed back into the living room.

"I'm so glad to see you guys," she sighed as she collapsed back into the armchair, "I can officially stop thinking for the day."

The twins exchanged a look. "Too easy," they said simultaneously.

"Fine," glared at them, "You two geniuses can tell me whether it's more likely that the Ministry is keeping a herd of the Thai laughing goats whose apparent extinction the _Prophet_ recently ran an article on in the fourth floor conference rooms, or that this man here," she held out the photos that Bill took, "is selling that Ministry official the deed to a remote lot of land in Wales, a portkey to which is being stored in said conference rooms, which could be used as a meeting place for Death Eaters when they don't want to be overheard in the Ministry building."

Fred took the pictures and looked them over. "I have no idea what you just said," he told her, "but I think that it's quite clear that this man _here_ knows the location of a muggleborn family on the run, but this _other_ man," he pointed the man out to George, "is madly in love with the daughter of that family, and so the first man is trying to blackmail the second man, claiming that if the second man doesn't do his laundry for one year, he'll sell that piece of paper, which has the location of the family written on it of course, to the Snatchers."

George studied the photos closely, then handed them back to Anna. "He's right, you know."

Anna shook her head, "Sorry, couldn't follow you. Told you, done thinking, too convoluted for me." And she got up to help Molly with the stew.

"That's so unfair," George muttered as she left, "your story wasn't half as complicated as hers, and she seemed to be following herself just fine. You shouldn't stand for that, you know."

"But if I listen to her crazy ramblings, and don't make her listen to mine," Fred whispered back, "she might let me touch her bum when no one's looking."

"Excellent point. Carry on."

Twenty minutes later, Bill and Fleur arrived, and fifteen minutes after that Arthur came home. He looked highly agitated as soon as he walked in.

"I've got some bad news," he said as everyone gathered into the kitchen. "Kingsley's on the run."

Molly and Fleur gasped, and the twins sat down to hear the rest of the news.

"He was recording a message for Hestia with his patronus, and he let slip You-Know-Who's name. We only know how it happened because the patronus left when the Snatchers appeared, so she got a partial message and then him cursing when he realized what he'd done. Luckily, the taboo doesn't seem to respond to what the patronuses themselves say, only the initial speech, or else Hestia and those Dursleys would be in trouble, too."

Everyone was speechless for a moment. Of course, there were backup plans for every member of the Order in case of such an emergency; Kingsley would be staying with Remus and Tonks, while taking polyjuice potion to look like an old warlock Dedalus knew who lived in southern Ireland. But nobody in the room had expected Kingsley to be the first to have to actually put his backup plan into action. Fred resisted the urge to take Anna's hand only with difficulty.

Bill finally broke the silence. "Did he make it out okay? Were Remus and Tonks there when he arrived? Is he hidden now?"

Arthur shook his head. "We won't know until we hear from one of them. Hestia got the patronus about an hour ago; I heard rumblings about it at the office pretty soon after it happened. I knew he was supposed to go see her tonight, and I wasn't sure if she'd risk sending her own patronus during the day right after that, so as soon as I got off work I went to see her and she told me about it. I'm assuming he'd apparate around the country as much as he can first to throw them off the trail, but hopefully he'd be arriving at the Lupins' about now."

Molly clapped her hands. "Kingsley is a capable man, and I'm sure he's handling the situation. If we haven't heard from him or the Lupins in another hour, _then_ we'll start to panic. For now, I think we'll all feel a bit better with full stomachs."

Everyone mumbled or nodded their agreement and sat down solemnly at the table while she brought over the food and the butterbeers. Everyone had just finished serving themselves when something flashed outside and caught their eyes. A bright silver wolf soared through the window.

"Long live the king," it said in Tonks's voice, and disappeared. Everyone in the room sighed with relief, knowing that this phrase meant that Kingsley had arrived safely and successfully taken the polyjuice potion. The tension that had been gripping the room lifted.

"Well, I have some good news to balance that out," Bill said after a few moments. Everyone looked at him expectantly. He chose his words carefully.

"We've had... a communication from Ron." His mother gasped and the twins smiled. "He and the others are alive and well. We can't tell you where they are, or what they're doing, or where they're going next. All we can say is, they're okay at the moment."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Molly exclaimed, but Arthur's face looked dark.

"What sort of communication was this?" he asked Bill, "Are you absolutely certain it was from Ron? It couldn't possibly have been a faked message from a Death Eater to throw us off the trail?" Molly's smile faltered at her husband's questions.

Bill glanced at Fleur, and again was very careful as he spoke, "I can't tell you exactly what the communication was. He - it gives a bit of a clue to his location, and it's dangerous enough that Fleur and I know that much, he doesn't want it to spread any further. But you'll just have to believe me that there is no possible way that it could have come from anyone but him."

"Ahhhh," Fred said, getting back into his usual mood after the Kingsley scare, "He included a picture of that huge mole on his bum, didn't he? I told him it'd come in handy one day."

Bill laughed, "Luckily, no, but I assure you that this was one hundred percent authentic Ron."

---

As Molly cleaned up from dinner, Bill leaned over to his brothers.

"Didn't you two say you had a new joke to show me in your bedroom?"

They hesitated and seemed about to ask what he was talking about, but he gave them a significant look and they started nodding, "Oh yeah, yeah, that one, that's a good one, we'd better get up there."

"I'll help your mother in here," Arthur said, "You boys just try not to burn the house down if you're going to be doing demonstrations."

Anna followed the twins and Bill up the stairs, with Fleur behind her. When they got into the twins' bedroom, Fleur shut the door behind her and cast a muffliato spell. Bill turned to them with a serious look on his face.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you absolutely _cannot_ get back to mum and dad," he said quietly, "if I think I have to, I'll make each of you take an unbreakable vow not to tell."

Fred, George, and Anna looked shocked, and all assured him that such measures wouldn't be necessary.

"We didn't get a communication from Ron. We got Ron. He's staying at our house for a bit. He got... separated from the others, and can't get back because of all the protection they've got around them. They move every night, and he has no idea where they went after he... got separated. I can't really tell you more than that. I just wanted someone else to know, because if something happens to me and Fleur, someone will need to make sure he stays hidden. Though hopefully he won't be with us for too long."

George spoke up first, "Well, that's not all bad news. Out of the three of them, if I had to knock one out of the race to kill You-Know-Who, I know he'd be my first pick. Can you imagine how completely buggered he and Harry would be if Hermione got lost?"


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long - the semester started, you know how it goes. Grad school comes before fanfic, sadly. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed or favorited! I'm so glad people are enjoying this story! I'm hoping to have an update to A Muggleborn's Story in the next week as well. My Nanowrimo goal is to finish both of these.

---

December 20, 1997

The door to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes opened and two girls stepped in - one with flaming red hair and a box under her arm and the other wearing a dark blue cloak with the hood still up.

Anna looked hopefully around the somewhat crowded store while Ginny wandered off to play with the pygmy puffs. She finally caught sight of Fred at the other end, and felt her stomach drop out from under her. A petite, attractive blonde witch was with him, and they were talking enthusiastically. On his face was the lopsided smile he wore when he was at his most charming. He put his arm around her shoulders as he pulled a box off of the shelf. Anna swallowed. She couldn't take her eyes off of them. _You talked about this weeks ago_, she told herself, _there's no commitment. He can do whatever he wants when he's not with you. It was silly to think that just because you don't have anyone else to be with, that he would -_

Her thoughts were broken when a hand suddenly took hers. George led her over to a counter and pulled out a small bottle. As he did so, he looked at her in a way... Well, in a way that she was not accustomed to being looked at by _George_. Her eyes flicked to the missing ear, disconfirming her momentary suspicion that she may have mixed the twins up for the first time ever.

"I'd like you to try this lovely new cream we've just got in," he told her, never breaking eye contact, "It warms a pretty girl's hands right up on a cold winter day like this - or buy it in the toothpaste tube and give an unsuspecting friend a toasty warm tongue." He winked at her. She opened her mouth but found herself speechless as he rubbed a drop of the cream into her hand. Had she stepped into Bizarro Diagon Alley?

"You see," George continued, still with a grin that made her blush, "a little flirtation goes a long way in the sales game." Understanding began to dawn on Anna, though the entire experience had caught her so off guard that she felt she was trying to think through a thick haze. "Whether a lovely young thing like yourself or a withered old hag - make her feel beautiful, and even if she doesn't buy something today, she'll remember you and come back." She blinked a few times and again tried unsuccessfully to say something.

George leaned close to her and lowered his voice. "He doesn't look at _anyone_ the way he looks at you."

Suddenly, her hand was pulled out of his. "Ah, I know exactly what this young lady is looking for," Fred said to his brother with a wink, "I think we've got some more in the back."

"_Merci_," Anna said to George with a smile, and let Fred lead her to the back of the store.

Instead of the store room, he led her through the door that led to the stairs to the twin's upstairs flat. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he pushed her hood down and kissed her.

"What are you doing here?" he gasped when they finally came up for air.

"Ginny heard you mention you were running low on Ton-Tongue Toffees, and she'd seen a spare box of them in your room," Anna explained, "So she came to deliver them. Your mum thought it wouldn't be too unsafe for me to tag along just this once - since it's been six months since anyone from Hogwarts has seen me, if I keep my head down and my hood up they probably won't recognize me immediately. And I've got my French papers if there's a problem. I shouldn't stay too long, though."

"Well, you certainly shouldn't stay out _there_ too long," Fred agreed, "but nobody's going to notice you back here, are they?" He gave her a devilish grin and squeezed her close.

"But you've got work to do," she replied with a slight pout, "It's bustling out there, I don't want to keep you too long."

On cue, the door opened a crack and George's head poked into the stairwell, "Take it you're heading out to lunch, then?" he asked his brother, "See you in a half hour." And he was gone. Anna stared after him.

"It's a bit creepy when he does that, you know," she said, turning to Fred.

"What can I say, I've got him well-trained. I'll have to give him a biscuit when we're done," And with that, he began pulling her up the stairs.

Seconds later, they collapsed onto Fred's bed, laughing and gasping for air. As Anna arranged herself comfortably on her back, Fred propped himself up on one arm above her and began to stroke her hair. He kissed her forehead, cheek, ear, neck, then pulled back and looked down at her.

"This is so sad," he said softly, "This is the first half hour we've had alone in three weeks, and I'd almost rather spend it talking to you than snogging you."

She laughed, "Sad? That sounds great! I mean, not that I don't think we should spend it snogging."

"Well, of course you think it's great, you're a girl. Girls like that sort of thing. Now, I realize you don't have direct proof of this fact - _yet_, mind you; I readily admit that I hope to change that someday - but believe it or not I actually do have a penis and I am accustomed to thinking with it like any red-blooded male. I find it highly disturbing - " Anna pulled him down into a kiss, cutting him off.

"Maybe you should stop wasting our half hour, then," she breathed between two long kisses.

---

"_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET YOUR BLOODY HANDS OFF ME!_"

Fred and Anna sat up with a start. They'd been upstairs for all of ten minutes when they heard Ginny's shrieks from the store below. Fred's brotherly instincts propelled him out of the bed and through the bedroom door before he could shoot Anna an apologetic look. The sight of her half-unbuttoned shirt made him twinge a little inside, but didn't slow his progress to the stairs.

By the time he reached the store, he could hear George as well. "Look you, this is my store and my sister, and you'd better give me some good reasons why I shouldn't Crucio the lot of you this instant."

As Fred entered, he saw that most of the customers had frozen in their tracks. Some were trying to sneak out the far door. A group of four rough-looking men were standing near the main door, and the largest of them had Ginny by her elbows. She was thrashing around, and it looked like she was trying to bite him if she could have reached. George had his wand pointed at the man, but Fred knew that he hadn't used it yet because it would be nearly impossible to miss Ginny.

"We been hearin' reports that some mudbloods what been kicked outta Hogwarts been seen on Diagon Alley this week," the man holding Ginny said, "This one looks like she's school-age, why ain't she up at the school? You got any proof she ain't a mudblood?"

"What, you didn't stay at Hogwarts yourself long enough to learn to read a calendar?" Fred called as he made his way to the front of the store, covering the man's friends with his own wand, "Christmas is next week, they're on holiday. Or were you planning on also taking in the other thirty Hogwarts students in the store?" As he said this, several of the younger customers went pale and dashed for the door.

"I guess you can't read signs either," George said, "Because you somehow missed the enormous one out front that says _Weasley's_ Wizarding Wheezes. _We,_" he motioned to himself and Fred, speaking slowly, as if to a child, "are George and Fred _Weasley_, we _own_ the _store_._That_ is our sister, Ginevra Weasley. If you don't believe us, you can always ask our father. You'll find him at the Ministry. Where he _works_."

The lead snatcher glanced around at his fellow gangmembers. One opened his eyes wide and said quietly to the leader, "I think they're right, Murphy, there's a guy named Weasley what works in the Ministry somewhere. Got red hair like these three. Met 'im once when I went to talk to Rookwood. Shit, we don't wanna piss 'im off if 'e knows Rookwood."

The leader let go of Ginny, who immediately spun around and hit him with a stinging hex. As the welts sprung up on his face, the gang turned tail and ran, dodging Fred and George's curses as they went.

"Bloody hell," George growled, "Look at this place. We were packed five minutes ago. It's going to take at least an hour for people to calm down and start coming back in. Damn it, we need these Christmas sales if we want to survive through the January slump! Between the snatchers and the dementors, this is the third time this week the store's gone empty during a rush."

"Fuck the snatchers," Ginny said savagely, still staring after the man who'd grabbed her. "Gimme some Whiz-Bangs and a sign, I'll go drum you up some business. And if Murphy doesn't steer clear, he's likely to find a sparkler up his arse."

"Aw, she's growing up so fast," Fred said, his arm around his sister's shoulder. He gave her a squeeze and felt a little of the tension in her body ease.

---

Fred found Anna sitting on the stairs a minute later, her face pale. He sat down next to her and took her hand.

"Damn pygmy puffs," he said, "They look harmless, but when they go bad..."

Anna smiled weakly. "I guess it was pretty stupid of me to come here, huh? I'm just so tired of hiding."

"Hush," he said gently, "It wasn't stupid, you know you're not on their lists."

"And Ginny is?"

"Touche. I guess when the people doing the arresting are either too stupid or too power-hungry to check the lists, it doesn't matter much, does it?" He sighed. "Well, Ginny's bound and determined to go advertise for a bit, so no sense in you running back to the Burrow right now. How's your family doing? Any news?"

Anna brightened. "Actually, I just got a letter from them! By owl! My brother arranged to finish his requirements early and graduated this month, and they've moved to France with our grandmother! My brother's been hanging out with some Beauxbatons graduates, the only people we really know in France, and they're letting him use their owl. I'm going to visit them for Christmas Eve and Christmas. This will all make my cover story much more convincing."

Fred looked a little disappointed, but only for a second. "I was kind of looking forward to spending the holiday with you, but that's great. I know you've been worried for them. I'm really glad you'll get to see your brother. I hope I get to meet him someday."

"Meeting my family already?" Anna grinned, "This is getting serious, Mr. Weasley."

"May I remind you that you _live_ with my parents? If meeting your brother makes this serious, that must make us married," He saw her grin falter, and hurriedly added, "I mean - that came out wrong. I'm sorry, you know I joke first and think later. I didn't mean - it's not that it's not serious. Because it is. At least, my feelings are serious, and I know we agreed that it can't be official, but I'm serious about it being... whatever it is, even if it's not official."

Anna held back her laughter with some difficulty. "You're adorable when you're flustered. You're right, though. It is what it is, whatever that is. And I'm serious about it being... it." She pressed her lips together again to keep from giggling at her own inanity.

"Well. I'm certainly glad we've sorted that out. It's a shame mum won't be letting you visit here again, not after Ginny blabs about what happened today, which Ginny won't be able to stop herself from doing." He stopped and looked thoughtful, then snapped his fingers. "You know, you could always apparate directly to our flat. Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Oh gosh, second-floor apparition has always made me nervous, I knew a girl who got her foot stuck in the floor once," Anna said. Then Fred caught her eye and she smiled, "But I suppose I could practice."


End file.
